When I began my Affiliate Marketing Journey, initially I started doing what most people did and read a lot of articles, forum threads and anything I could get my hands on. I was like an information devouring monster and just couldn’t stop! In much of what I read, the successful affiliates would mention how they would talk regularly to their ‘Affiliate Managers’ and ‘ Traffic Source Reps’ to get valuable information to assist their campaigns. When reading this I had no Idea what they’d ask these reps but in time I’ve found this out. I’m going to list here what I ask contacts for the companies I work with and what you should be asking too. If you have any other questions you ask them which I haven’t mentioned, you’re welcome to post below!

Affiliate Managers

Affiliate Managers are basically people dedicated to help you bring in more conversions for the Affiliate Network they represent. It’s in their best interest to provide you with enough valuable information so you can in time be a better affiliate. This is great for you as they’re always willing to take the time to offer you advice. This is what I normally ask them.

What products/services in ‘niche x’, (eg, insurance, health, etc), is converting the best?

How many leads or how much money are your top affiliates generating?

What traffic sources work best? PPC, FaceBook?

If they have multiple landing pages, ask them which one seems to convert better

How long has ‘offer x’ been working with you guys for? (This is valuable as you don’t want the company whos offer you are promoting to close down any time soon!)

What angles do you see working with this offer? (Angle is generally the term used in affiliate marketing to describe the particular ‘approach’ used when promoting something. For example a couple of angles for promoting survey offers could be to target mommy blogs. Another one could be to target those looking for a part-time online income and seek out the blogs that offer advice on this.

If I’m getting some conversions I ask for a pay bump on my offer. For one offer I was promoting I have since received a pay bump from around $5.75 to $7.20! That’s a 25% increase in payout. The way I usually ask for a bump it to tell them that it would help in further expanding my campaigns, (which is true), and I show them my stats which usually consist of negative ROI days.

That’s all I can think of for now. Basically Affiliate Managers have all the information related to where the traffic is coming from for each affiliate and what’s generating good sales for their affiliate business . We’re interested in the top performers so we can emulate them.

Traffic Source Reps

I’ve recently started chatting with these guys and honestly can’t think of anyone more helpful. TS Reps are people from LeadImpact, 50OnRed, etc who will assist you in choosing the right keywords/targets for your campaigns. Honestly, what’s more valuable then this information!? If you can learn how to game keywords/targets then you’ll be a great affiliate as that’s one of the top skill sets needed in this industry. Here’s some valuable questions I’ve asked them,

What countries does most of your traffic come from?

What are your high volume countries?

If they provide a bunch of different services such as PPC, PPV, Intext, etc, ask them which one is the most popular

You can even tell them your campaigns and they’ll tell you some keywords you can try!

How old they are as a traffic source?

What niches are popular among affiliates that promote with them

They’ll tell you what you should do and not do when it comes to keyword selection

They can guide you through your first campaign set up

That’s good enough for now. Don’t just fire a bunch of questions at them. Be friendly and make sure you be thankful for their time. Every question I have I can usually find an answer to with either my affiliate manager or TS Rep. Make sure you talk to these guys, they’re like your little personal mentors and can change your whole affiliate experience. Don’t be shy and network in the affiliate industry. You may form some very good long term relationships with them which can payoff both financially and personally in the long term.